Wire stay.



PATENTED. MAY 12, 1908.

J. A. STAPLES. WIRE STAY.

APPLICATION FILED JUHE 3,1907- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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No. 887,353. 'PATENTED MAY 12, 1908.

' J. A. STAPLES.

WIRE STAY.

APPLICATION FILED JUN-E 3,1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W Z? TZVWX UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. STAPLES, OF NEWBURGH, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO STAPLES & HANFORD COMPANY OF NEWBURGH, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WIRE STAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 3, 1907.

Patented May 12, 1908.

Serial No. 377,116.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN A. STAPLES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newburgh, in the county of Orange and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in .Wire Stays, of which the fo lowing is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to wire structures, and particularly to a novel wire stay or picket which is adapted to be readily sprung into engagement with wires or other suitable associated parts and to lock itself against accidental disengagement.

The invention consists of the organizations and arrangements of parts hereinafter fully described and then particularly designated and pointed out in the ap ended claims.

In the present exempqificationv I have shown my invention embodied in a wire stay or picket in knock-down form so that it may be shipped in boxes or bundles and adapted to be readily snapped into engagement with any style of wires strung along on fence posts or other supports, it being understood that the stays are made in various lengths ac cording to the distances between the associated wires.

It is of course to be understood that I do not limit my invention to this particular use, which is shown merely to better illustrate one manner of its practical use and employment, as it is obvious that it may be employed in other ways without departing from my invention.

In the accompanying drawing:Figure 1 is a front View of a stay made in conformity with my invention and shown in locked prosition with associated wires Fig. 2 is a ont view on an enlarged scale of the central portion of the stay and a section of the associated wire, showing the first position of the stay before being moved to locked position; Fig. 3 is a similar view of the same with the stay moved to second position; Fig. 4 is a similar View of the same with the stay moved to its locked position; Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modified form of lock; Fig. 7 is a view of the parts of Fig. 6 in the same relative position as in Fig. 3 and Figs. 8 and 9 are front and side views respectively of the parts of Fig. 6.

n the preferred embodiment of my invention I employ a stay or connecting wire having oppositely directed hooks at its ends adapted to be sprung into engagement with a pair of associated parallel wires against the torsion of the connecting wire and so having a torsional resistance to disengagement therefrom, and having an intermediate lock to engage an intermediate wire parallel with the first pair of wires, it being however expressly understood that the ends of the connecting wire or stay may be attached to the first pair of wires by any suitable means without departing from my present invention.

In the drawings, the stay or picket is made from a suitable length of wire comprising the opposite arms 10 and 11 lying in the same plane and connected by an intermediate bridge or connecting portion 12 which is' formed by double reverse bends in the stay near its center, the bridge lying substantially at an angle of 45 degrees to the arms and being sufficiently bent or deflected forwardly to raise it out of the plane of the arms and to provide a recess or seat 13 as shown in Fig. 5. The conformation of the parts at this point is substantially that of a capital 2 with the stem or angular connecting piece laterally deflected or curved, the amount of the deflection varying according to the size of the wire or strand with which the picket is to interlock at its center, it being understood that the depth of the bridge or the distance between the rear face of the seat 13 and the front faces of the arms 10 and 11 will preferably be slightly less than the diameter of the wire 14 with which they interlock so that the arms are slightly sprung when in place in order to provide frictional contact between the parts.

The free ends of the arms are preferably provided with hooks 15 and 16 adapted to be sprung into engagement with top and bottom wires 17 and 18.

It is to be understood that a stay made in conformity with my invention may be used in connection with plain, barbed or braided wire, and the manner of applying the same thereto may be described as follows. The stay is first placed lengthwise against the intermediate wire 14 or other suitable associated part to which it is desired to lock it, as shown in Fig. 2, the wire 14 seating in the recess 13, and the arms 10 and 11 lying, respectively, substantially above and below the wire and in rear thereof in a plane adjacent to or partly overlapping or coinciding with the plane of the wire. The arms are then pressed in the direction away from the bridge (when necessary) and at the same time the stay is swung to the second position, shown in Fig. 3. It is apparent that both arms will then be on the same side of the wire and the bridge crosses and embraces it. The stay is then continued to be swung around until it is arrested in its movement at about a right angle to the wire (Fig. 4) which, all the while the stay is being swung around, is held seated in the recess in the bridge. This completes the locking movement of the stay and intermediate wire, and thus it is securely held against any sliding movement along the wire. The hooks 15 and 16 are then sprung into engagement with the wires 17 and 18 by rotating or twisting the hooks by any suitable means, as a pair of pliers; the rotation of the hooks puts the wire of the stay under tension or torsion, and when the hooks have been rotated far enough to allow the parallel wires to pass between the ends of the hooks and the wire of their associated arms the torsion causes the hooks to spring into engagement with the wires with their ends in position around the wires as shown in Fig. 1. It is clear that the hooks cannot be disengaged without reversely twisting or rotating them which is opposed by the torsional resistance of the wire, and that they are therefore held securely in place.

The bridge is preferably bent out of the plane of the arms just enough to allow the stay to be swung under frictional engagement with the wire to its locked position, the arms yielding sufficiently to permit of this, and because of the resilient nature of the wire, or other suitable material of which the stay may be made, it is apparent that the arms thus forced out of their normal plane are held under tension in engagement with the wire which is securely held seated in the recess by the tension exerted upon it by the arms. The intermediate lock not only provides a means for the stay to quickly and securely engage an intermediate wire so that three wires may be mutually connected in predetermined relation, but it affords a base or foundation for each end of the stay; for example, when the free ends are merely hooks or coiled about the wires 17 and 18 or are connected thereto by clips, there would be a tendency of one or both of the ends to slip or creep along its wire, but by providing an intermediate lock between the ends the parts are held securely together in their assembled relation as this lock prevents the stay from creeping along the wire 14 and also prevents it from turning on the wire.

In Figs. 6 to 9 I show a modified form of intermediate lock in which the bridge 12 is formed by an angularly disposed curved loop so made that the distance between the arms is substantially the same or slightly less than the diameter of the wire 14. In this case the stay is assembled in substantially the manner described above, the parts occupying the position shown in Figs. 8 and 9 when assembled.

By employing my present invention three parallel wires, as in fences for example may be secured together in properly spaced rela tion by an easily assembled stay which forms a homogeneous component or constituent part of the wire structure without any bending of the stay in assembling it. Also, the center lock prevents the stay from getting out of perpendicular position and so holds the ends of the arms in place to preserve the alinement of the associated wires. The stay may of course be applied in making new fences or in repairing old ones, and when the ends are interlocked with the upper and lower wires by springingtheir hooks against the torsion of the wire of the stay they cannot be displaced except by deliberate act of a workman. The stays are complete in themselves in that they require no additional fastenings or clips to secure them in place, and when assembled are in the same form as when made. The intermediate bend also affords relief to the straight parts of the stay when the torsional strain is exerted to snap the end hooks over their wires, as it gives greater elasticity to the parts, and so the straight arms are less liable to deterioration as the intermediate bends yield more readily to the force ex erted by the workman.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A wire stay having a pair of arms lying in the same plane and an intermediate bridge formed by double reverse bends and laterally deflected intermediate the bends, the distance between the rear face of the bridge and the front faces of the arms being less than the diameter of a wire with which it is adapted to be associated.

2. A wire stay comprising a pair of hooked arms lying in the same plane and an intermediate angular and laterally deflected bridge, the distance between the rear face of the bridge and the front faces of the arms being less than the diameter of the wire with which it is adapted to be associated.

3. A stay comprising a pair of resilient arms lying in the same plane, and an angular bridge connecting the arms and curved out of the plane thereof, the arms being adapted to be slightly sprung in assembling the stay on an associated wire and lying on the same side thereof.

4. A stay comprising a pair of resilient arms lying in the same plane and a bridge forming a Z-shaped connection, the stem of the connection being laterally deflected to form a seat, and the arms being adapted to be slightly sprung in the same direction in assembling the stay on an associated wire to frictionally secure the latter in the seat.

5. A wire stay comprising a pair of arms lying in the same plane and having oppositely bent hooks at its ends and an intermediate curved angular bridge, the bridge and hooked ends being adapted to be respectively sprung upon associated wires.

6. In a wire structure, three parallel wires, and a connecting wire having oppositely directed hooks at its ends adapted to be sprung into engagement with the outer wires against the torsional action of the connecting wire and having an intermediate lock to engage the intermediate wire.

7. In a Wire structure, three parallel wires, and a connecting wire engaging the outer wires at its ends and held against disengagement therefrom by the torsional resistance of the connecting wire, and having a lock engaging the intermediate wire.

8. In a wire structure, three parallehwires,

and a connecting Wire engaging the outer wires at its ends and under the torsion of its intermediate portion, and having a Z-shaped lock engaging the intermediate wire.

9. In a wire structure, three parallel wires, and a connecting wire having reversely arranged end hooks engaging the outer wires and held from displacement therewith by the torsion of the connecting wire, and having a laterally deflected angular bridge interlocking with the intermediate Wire.

10. In a wire structure, three parallel wires, and a stay having arms provided with reversely arranged end hooks held in engagement with the outer wires by the torsion of the stay, and having an angular bridge curved out of the plane of the arms.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN A. STAPLES.

Vitnesses:

C. H. HANFORD, J. H. JACKSON. 

